The population of the Czech Republic dropped below 10.7 million during the first quarter of the year. The decrease was caused by a record-high number of deaths, which exceeded the number of live births by around 19.2 thousand. The figures were published this week by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). Photo Credit: KK / BD.
Czech Rep., June 15 (BD) – The population of the Czech Republic decreased by 7.3 thousand during the first quarter of the year 2021, dropping back below 10.7 million for the first time since last June. The decline in the population was due to a significant increase in the number of deaths, which was around 19.2 thousand higher than the number of live births. The number of immigrants exceeded emigrants by around 11.9 thousand.
There were around 46.4 thousand deaths from the beginning of January to the end of March this year, an overall increase of 54% year-on-year, including 63% for men and 44% for women, and mainly those aged 70-79. The statistics do not include the cause of death, but according to the Ministry of Health, 14,845 people died with coronavirus in the first quarter of this year, out of just over 30,000 since the beginning of the pandemic last March.
“The data show that we managed the coronavirus crisis very poorly, so compared to the country’s population we have too many deaths,” said Štěpán Křeček, chief economist at BHS investment house.
According to official data, 19.1 thousand people immigrated to the Czech Republic during the first quarter of 2021, while 7.2 thousand left the country. The net foreign migration was therefore 11.9 thousand, an increase of 7.4 thousand year-on-year. As in previous years, the bulk of these figures were due to citizens of Ukraine, who constituted 6.4 thousand of the total in this quarter.
More than 12,400 people moved to Prague, followed by Central Bohemia with almost 10,000. In almost all regions, the number of immigrants exceeded those who left, with the exception of the Olomouc region, where a slightly higher number of people emigrated than immigrated.
For the first time in the history of the independent Czech Republic, the number of weddings fell below 3,000. During the first quarter, 2.7 thousand couples got married, about 1,000 fewer than last year. The most common age bracket for grooms was 30-34, while brides were most commonly between 25-29. On the other hand, by the end of March 2021, over 5,000 marriages had been legally terminated by divorce, about 500 less year-on-year.
